I had the exact same thought and wanted to add that season-wise asparagus would maybe more likely be accompanied with morels rather than with truffles but I didn't want to pour truffle oil on the fire.

Ah, damned! I need to get used to the fact that they got 3-star.To their credit, I once had there a rabbit dish which is to date the best I have ever tasted. The saddle was cooked to perfection, tender and not dry, served with kidneys and liver and a classical jus. So yes, this was kind of simple but it showed some real talent.So, I can only guess your asparagus were well cooked at least.

Well, as for me, I am hiding behind my keyboard with shame to candidly ask which 3-star restaurant we could be talking about in Northern France. I thought I had been to them all but can't remember any in that region. We're probably talking about eastern/northern-ish instead ... Still I wouldn't imagine Mr Haeberlin or Klein serving some naked asparagus. I would have been less surprised if it had come from Mr Passard but definitely not the region. I love quizzes and puzzles. Can we get more hints, please?

May our paths never cross in a restaurant while I take discreetly, without flash, my unprofessional but real pictures of food which give some color on my reviews which fairness might otherwise be questioned by some ill-intention readers.

Still don't dislike you but why don't you start another thread about your worst restaurants? I might add some to the list.

"Restaurants that are dirty, serve frozen food and are managed, controlled and owned by folks who don't care"

I have personally no interest in reading about this kind on this board. Time is precious. :)

About the legitimacy of a critique: you know, I have befriended with only a handful of chefs. That still leaves me a vast number of restaurants where my opinion is relevant. And even with restaurants which i am acquainted with, I always try to factor that in my comments. About a year ago, one these restaurants got slightly bashed on this board. It was very hard for me but I refrained myself from commenting on the board (...OK, it was also well defended by regular chowhounders).

Anyway, I am very fond of reviews with a lot of pictures (just like our venerable JT does and which I try to do), you can decide to ignore, fully or partly, or just tune the opinion that you read.

Lastly, I don't dislike you (yet) and I value your opinion as much as others on this board :)

To me, a worst list is as bad as a best list in the sense that it will be filled with subjective opinions and inappropriate superlatives. The thread has addressed that subjectivity issue already and it works both ways.

I would be happy somehow to shame those restaurants which I believe do not deserve their acclaim but do not count on me to try or to look for bad restaurants. :)

Now about anonymity: I guess everyone has their own motive when choosing anonymity. In my case, yes, I am a friend of several of the chefs mentioned regularly on this board, and yes my opinions are as biased as anyone else. I try my best to keep my comments as objective as possible and more importantly to respect others readers (lately I have had trouble dealing with some resident trolls though but I guess you have to live with it). So if I try to remain anonymous (if that is even possible), it is to preserve my privacy and more importantly not to interfere with my other professional activities which are not chow-related.

And for those of us who maintain blogs, there are often mentioned in the chowhound profile.

Then I would add two addresses worth of mention:- Gilles Verot who produces a number of interesting terrines including his award winning fromage de tete. (No need to bother with his other catering products though)- Le pain de sucre, whose owner is the former pastry chef at Pierre Gagnaire's. They produce some beatiful and tasty pates or meat pies should I say (with duck meat, sweetbread, ...) that you have to re-heat. The only drawback is the unfriendly service.

I assume your quest is related to restaurant terrines...So, there is this one guy at Le Boudoir who's a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (aka MOF, a big distinction here in France) who emphasizes on terrines. His name is Arnaud Nicolas. You should check this one.

An acquaintance of mine once said: "You can find a good wine at every price level".I find this view very interesting. I guess we all have our own thresholds for, say, our table wine, our Sunday-lunch bottle or our celebration wine.I have to admit that in some circumstances such as picnics in some exceptional locations, I have truly enjoyed some wines which I couldn't have gulped otherwise.Unfortunately, my everyday wine price threshold has been slowly and steadily growing for years as my palate gets accustomed with better wines.

No, no, no. You're not alone, John. I too was terribly unimpressed by Caius. I have reported on this a few weeks ago, wanting to understand why there was such a rave. It felt like a mildly talented amateur chef. Not someone with professional cooking skills.

I m talking about Le Valois near the Parc Monceau.It's a typical Brasserie which serves the dishes you are looking for in a decent setting. This recommendation usually works well. When I go there I will take a tartare of an andouillette. I don't go there for fancy food.Bistro Valois, is just a very ordinary place in my opinion. (Well, that said have not been there since 1992, so... doesn't mean much)

I agree also on Caillebotte. Put it back on the list, it is a totally worthy option! Sorry Parigi. :)

That said, I don't know how the initial list was put together; I can't see any place I would cross town for.

One thing I would like to understand though is the rave for Caius. I have been there after reading some good comments from this board (and after some acknowledgement from a friend chef who shall not be named and who I now suspect of complaisance :) ).

I can't deny that the setting is nice (although a bit noisy), that the dishes are flavourful but gosh what I was served was just home-cooking! Not something I expect from a chef. The pluma was unevenly cooked, meat was not seared but kind of boiled... there's no refinement in the presentation... To me the basics were totally missing .I have attached some pictures here for your review. I'd be happy to get comments on whether this really represents what the restaurant usually serves or if it was a night-off.